


Remembering

by MelindaCoulson4



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 4x20, F/M, Reunited and It Feels So Good, The Framework, inspired by the promo, spoilers?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 05:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10735551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaCoulson4/pseuds/MelindaCoulson4
Summary: Philinda oneshot. Speculation for 4x20. Jemma and Daisy split up from the rest of the team. Mack, Coulson, and May are tasked with scouting the site for the possible backdoor out of the framework, not that they know that. They may or may not run into some trouble named Fitz.





	Remembering

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to get this out. Started out as one thing, transformed into another, and then expanded into something else after I watched the promo 50 times….

“Fitz is there! The Doctor is there, May! You have to get out of there! We won’t get to you in time!” Melinda listens as the woman named Simmons yells hysterically on the other end of the phone.

She shakes her head. No way are they going to let the Doctor escape. They have a chance to take him out, so they need to take it. “We’re trying to track him. We’ll be able to get him even if it kills us,” she says adamantly.

Phil Coulson and the two other Shield agents that went with him are clearing the lower levels of the warehouse that they’re in. Simmons and Skye had taken a vehicle to the Doctor’s apartment earlier in the day, while she, Mack, and Phil Coulson had been assigned the task of scouting this warehouse. Skye had told her that it was important. This place was the key to everything. May wasn’t sure what Skye meant by that, but she could tell that Skye was serious about this.

She and Mack are on the sixth floor of the warehouse. The group had agreed that she and Mack had the best aim out of everyone; therefore, they had taken the higher ground.

“No….no! You can’t! Don’t interfere…please. Just go!” Simmons responds. “Listen to me….he is not who he thinks he is or who you think he is. Please…you can’t hurt him!” Simmons continues.

“I know exactly who the Doctor is,” she growls. Why is this woman so hell bent on defending the Doctor? He’s a son of a bitch, a torturing psychopath. If anyone is responsible for all of those kids being held captive in that Hydra facility that the Patriot had died in, it’s him.

“May please! Coulson…Coulson…Phil…you have to have some kind of feelings for him. Something inside of you…it feels like you know him, right? Because you do. You love each other. I don’t have time to explain, but you, Coulson, me, Daisy, Mack, and Fitz…we’re all a team. We all care about each other. I’m in love with Fitz. I love him because the man I love isn’t the Doctor at all. Don’t hurt him,” Simmons pleads breathlessly.

That couldn’t be true. They’re not a team; almost all of them had just met. And better yet, she’s known the Doctor for over a decade. He would never fight with these people, against them yes, but never with them.

Before she can even process half of what Simmons says, she hears a commotion echoing from the lower levels. It sounds like men are yelling, arguing. She quickly shuffles to the wooden railing that has been built around the space in the middle of the floor. As she leans against the structure while looking down, she spots Coulson and the Doctor at ground level, each with guns pointed at the other.

She can only hear bits and pieces of their conversation. Coulson is trying to convince the Doctor that Shield has surrounded the building and that he should surrender now before things turn ugly. _You can still do the right thing_ , Coulson says to the Doctor. Damn it, how could Coulson be so naïve? This is what happens when a teacher joins a fight. Coulson is too good of a man for this. A person who sees the bright side, the good in people. He is the type of person who gets himself killed for trying to do the right thing. On the other hand, _the right thing_ is sure to be a foreign concept to the Doctor.

As she lifts the cellphone to her ear with the intention of giving Simmons the courtesy of being in the loop, she’s interrupted. It’s Skye on the other end of the phone call now. “May, listen to me. Coulson is going to die if you don’t get him out of there-”  

“Not on my watch,” she declares. She wouldn’t let the Doctor kill anyone else. Turning on her heel, she grabs the sniper rifle resting at her feet and begins setting it up on the edge of the platform.

“Hey…May…do you see this?” she hears Mack’s voice through the radio at her hip.

Unclipping the device from her belt, she lifts it to her lips and says, “I’ll handle this. Standby for instructions.”

As she turns her attention back to the ground below, she is flabbergasted at the sight. Coulson has his hands raised in the air sans gun, while the Doctor continues to point his own gun at Coulson.

She tightens her grip on the sniper rifle and prepares to take the Doctor out. This can’t go on any longer. Her finger hovers over the trigger, moving closer as she completes the final checks to insure that she will hit the target. She has him locked into her sights; the perfect shot. Now or never, but her finger stiffens at the last second. The movement is out of her control, almost as if an invisible force is holding her back.

_This is wrong._

It shouldn’t be wrong. He’s the doctor and she has the chance to take him out for good. He’s right there, perfectly aligned with her scope, but she can’t bring herself to move. Simmons’ words had gotten to her somehow. They had crept into her subconscious and created a reasonable doubt. If there was some truth, any truth to what Simmons had said, then she would regret killing the Doctor for the rest of her life.

 _A team._ They were all a team. Simmons was adamant about that.

This decision can’t be delayed. Someone is bound to get hurt. It is either going to be the Doctor or Coulson. There is no way in hell that she would let it be Coulson. Just thinking about him getting hurt causes an untamable anxiousness in her chest. She feels a need to protect him like it is somehow written in her DNA.

Tilting the tip of the gun down and to the right slightly, she prepares herself to finally pull the trigger after taking a deep breath.

_Bang!_

She watches as the Doctor crumples to the ground in a heap. The bullet had pierced his right shoulder, which won’t kill him. But, he’ll be in some pain. It’ll keep him incapacitated long enough for her to get down there and assess the situation further.

“Mack, get down there. Make sure he lives….we need him alive. Understand?” she tells him through the radio. 

“Yea,” he says.

She lifts the rifle off of the ledge and tucks it under her armpit as she prepares to make her way to ground level.

She moves quickly down the stairs, keeping an eye out for Hydra agents lurking. There is no way that Fitz came here alone.

The thought makes her halt all movement.

Fitz. Fitz _. He’s not the Doctor. He’s Fitz._

_She just shot Fitz._

In an instant she knows that everything Simmons said is true.

Her brain is flooded with a lifetime of moments.

Ice skating during her childhood.

Her parents.

Her first date.

Joining Shield academy.

Meeting Phil.

_Phil._

_Phillip J. Coulson._

_“You love each other_ ,” Jemma had said.

Yes. That’s right. It’s true. All of it is true. Everything that Simmons said is real.

Phil. He’s here. He’s right here in this building.

“Phil!” she calls out desperately.

Her feet carry her down the flights of stairs in an instant. She has to get to him. 

The need is so intense that her legs wobble at the knees in anticipation. She has to concentrate on keeping her feet balanced on each wooden step otherwise she’ll surely topple over.

“Melinda?” she hears him call out to her from somewhere close-by.

She makes it to the bottom of a set of stairs. She can’t even remember how many sets she’s already gotten through. All of her thoughts are focused on Phil. He is the one thing, the one memory, the one person who stands out so clearly. Her feelings for him are completely overpowering.

She glances around this level of the warehouse quickly and she finally sees him. He’s standing a few yards away from her in a plaid shirt and black jacket, black-rimmed glasses, and gun in hand. So unlike Phil. She almost has to do a double-take now that she truly understands who he is.

Their eyes meet instantly. He pauses, frozen in place, mouth slightly falling open. He inhales sharply as a dumbfounded expression crosses his face.

There are so many things that she wants to say. How do you choose the right words when hundreds are running through your mind?

She can’t wait another second and apparently neither can he. They both run towards each other after the brief moment of hesitant shock, simultaneously tossing their firearms unceremoniously to the ground. Their bodies collide and they pull one another close.

She presses herself up against him and it feels so good. Her arms wind around his solid form.

“Melinda….you’re here,” he whispers against her neck.

“Yes.” It’s all she can respond with, her breath coming out shaky. She grips his shoulders and latches on, never wanting to let go. The jacket’s fabric is rough against her fingertips.

His fingers thread through the hair at the back of her scalp, as his palm presses gently at the base of her skull.

She allows herself to give into this, a moment of relief. She’s so afraid of losing him. Their connection means everything to her. Now, she realizes just what it meant to have him absent from her life.

“I love you,” he confesses, while his free hand rests against the small of her back.

The tears that she had been holding back slip from her eyelids in response to his words. She buries her face against his neck, trembling against him.

The hand that he has resting against her back pushes her even closer to his body and his arm tightens around her torso comfortingly. It feels like he’ll never let her go.

Eventually, they both pull slightly away from each other. Yet, they stay close enough that they’re breathing the same air.

They stay like that for a while, just taking each other in.

She watches as his eyes slowly flicker down to her lips. Her lips part in response and they both begin to gradually lean in. Their lips press solidly against each other. His are soft and warm. This kiss is nothing like the previous kiss that they shared while undercover. That one was hurried and laced with a sense of insecurity. This time around Phil’s lips are steady against hers; it’s a kiss from a man who knows what he wants.

She tampers down the need to jump him right here and now. All of that pent of sexual frustration that had built up over the decades of their partnership threatens to overflow in this moment. Instead, she bites his lower lip playfully and pulls away slowly.

“You two just met a day ago,” Mack mumbles while grimacing at their display of affection. 

She has no idea when he showed up. She ignores his comment, more interested in Phil at the moment. “You’re wearing glasses,” she says.

“You have on a Hydra uniform,” he beams, amused.

They both chuckle at the absurdity of it all.

//end//

**Author's Note:**

> I’m like 98% sure Coulson and May are running towards each other in the promo. If you look closely you can see the hydra logo from May’s top on the side of the screen. hopefully this makes sense...i'm half asleep right now. 
> 
> ps anyone who reads it's all coming back to me: i haven't abandoned it. This month has been nothing but writer's block for me. It was a battle even writing this.


End file.
